WAKING

To count one’s blessings: sometimes not easy. When pressures build, and the bright boxes and screens in our lives scream discord, it becomes a radical action, a survival strategy to look about and say yes to life, not to withhold appreciation for the simple things that become invisible when dark matters press in from without and within. The summer has brought more loss, more harsh realities economic and social. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to succumb sometimes to a time out. Meltdown at least means that when things cool off, they may have taken a different shape. Earlier this week I crawled onto the sofa and slept for a full day and a half. When I did get up, the first thing I noticed was the primary colors in my Tiffany glass style candle holder, illuminated by the candle I had lit earlier in the day. The sight made me realize that I had stopped seeing in colors at all; that the world had faded into shades of gray. The mind can play weird tricks. Today I revisit some other beautiful things and get to really notice them. A cat and a dog that delight in playing together. Some late autumn blooms in a vase. The sun streaming down through the trees. Here are some more images of the sweetness in my life, only a few feet away from me every day.